It's pilot season, tax season, and the season of trying to get our lives (and bodies) in shape. The perfect time for a little boost from a convenient meal delivery service, no?
While meal delivery services tend to be pricier than making your own food, and often even more expensive than eating out, they can be really helpful when you're busy. You don't have to think about getting or making food, it's just waiting for you in your fridge when you're hungry! That sounded totally ideal to me, so I decided to give
Rawvolution, the raw vegan meal delivery service endorsed by Alicia Silverstone, Cher, Carol Alt, and other glamorous LA types, a try. LA loves it and now there's nationwide shipping, so NYC must love it, too, right?
...well... this will be a really mixed bag review, because the food was
AMAAAAAAAAZING but the logistics of long-distance shipping left a bit to be desired.
My experience started on a less than great note. Admittedly, the chaotic deliver wasn't the company's fault, but due to weather/UPS. The food was supposed to arrive by 1:30pm on Tuesday. Instead, it arrived at 8pm on Wednesday.
Grrrrr. Considering that next day shipping to NYC costs between $60 and $100 per box, depending on the speed you select, that sort of delay can be quite frustrating.
Worse, the food arrived only cool (not cold) to the touch - after spending $120 on the meals (that's the cost without shipping) I was worried that some of the food might go bad before I could eat it all.
Not as bad, but also not appealing, is the presentation. While LA customers receive their meals in deli containers, shipping customers receive their meals vacuum sealed in plastic bags - a not at all appetizing presentation, especially for the wet dishes (which is over half of them). Shipping costs are already super high, though, and I suppose the meals are vacuum sealed to keep them from being positively astronomical.
On to the next thing - the contents of The Box. Boxes are non-customizable, so you get whatever the fixed menu is each week, in fixed amounts.
I received:
1. Green Cleanse Fresh-Pressed Juice
2. Roots Infusion Fresh-Pressed Juice
3. No Bean Hummus
4. French Carrot Salad
5. Cauliflower Couscous
6. Creamy Sunflower Seed Salad
7. Nut & Veggie Pate Wrap
8. Enchilada Blanca
9. Greek Pizza
10. Sloppy Joe Sandwich
11. Pecan Crumble
12. Cinnamon Raisin Balls
I'm not much of a juice drinker and would rather have traded the two juices ($20 worth of product, if you divide the total cost by the twelve items in the box) for more of something else. I also would have probably swapped a few other menu items. If I could tweak the service, I'd make opting in and out of menu items the first change.
Anyway, onto the actual food. While there may still be some significant kinks to work out with the long distance shipping service, the food itself is
INCREDIBLE and Chef Matt definitely has real talent for turning healthy vegetables into delicious meals! Seriously, the food was among the best I've ever eaten and, if I had infinite money and the shipping issues were worked out, I'd order from Rawvolution every single week.
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